Storm of Pryde
by DazeAtXaviers
Summary: Kitty can handle going into battle but a letter from her mother? Not so much.


I wasn't paying attention, I mean, it's a little hard to pay attention when you've got tears streaming down your face. I was phasing through wall after wall in the mansion and running as fast as my legs would carry me so I could get outside. I just wanted to be out of the mansion so I could cry or scream or… God I don't know what I wanted at that point. And that's when it happened. I had just phased through a wall, and was drawing in another breath so I could phase through the next one when my solid form collided with that of Ororo Munroe.

We both hit the ground with a thud and I saw a flare of anger rise up in Storm's usually cheerful eyes. The anger quickly dissipated after seeing the tears streaming down my face. .

"Kitty…" she said, scrambling over to me. "Kitty what's going on?"

I opened my mouth to respond but shook my head when I realized no words were coming out. I cradled my head in my hands and tried my best not to cry too hard. Storm tugged my small frame against her and cradled the back of my head with one of her hands. I cried. I cried so much and Storm just sat there and held me, rubbing my back occasionally until I'd cried out all of the tears in my body.

I wiped my face and averted my eyes. I couldn't look Storm in the eyes right now. _I must look pathetic to her_ , I thought to myself. She was so strong, so sure of herself and here I was, almost disintegrating. _She must think I'll make an awful X-Men._ Storm tilted my chin up but I still didn't let my eyes meet hers. "Kitty, please" she said, and waited patiently for me to meet her gaze. "Just talk to me, Kitty, please. I want to help and I can't do that if I don't know what's going on."

I shifted, uneasily and pulled the folded letter from my pocket. "This came in the mail today. It's from my mother," I said, my voice breaking on the last word.

Storm took the letter in her hand and read it carefully. I studied her face through tear brimmed eyes and I could see how much pain it caused her to read it.

 _Don't bother coming home for Christmas, Katherine. Don't bother coming home again at all. All I can say is that I am glad your father died before any of this started. At least he'll never have to see the freak that you have become._

Storms hands tensed around the letter. She wanted to crumple it, tear it, blast it into oblivion but it wasn't her letter. It was mine. She handed it back to me and tried her best to hide the pained expression on her face. "Kitty," she began, but she knew there weren't any words that would make this better. She stood up and led me over to her bed. I looked up at her with what must've been a tired and confused expression. "You're _exhausted_ ," she said. "And I don't want you spending the night alone, not after that letter. Sleep here tonight. We can talk about it in the morning if you're feeling up to it," said Storm, pulling back the comforter and climbing in on the other side of the king size bed.

I clambered into bed and pull the covers over me. The bed was warm and comfortable but even with storm just a foot or so away from me, I felt so alone. Apparently in the time that we'd walked to the bed and settled in, my tear supply had been replenished. I started crying—again—and Storm scooted closer to me and wrapped her arm protectively around my waist. "I'm not going anywhere Kitty," she assured me softly. I don't remember falling asleep that night but I do remember waking up around three or four a.m. and finding Storm's arm still around my waist, my body nestled closely against hers, and her legs entwined with mine.

She was warm. Warmer than I imagined. I felt her shift and tug my waist a little closer. The corner of my mouth twitched up into a half smile. As awful as getting that letter from my mother had been, I was glad it was storm that I collided into as I was running. I couldn't think of anyone I would've felt safe with other than her. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

I felt awful the next morning. My eyes hurt from all of the crying and well… actually everything kind of hurt. I glanced around the room, forgetting for a second that Storm had asked me to stay in her quarters and then sitting up to scan the room for storm. She must've heard the sheets rustle when I moved because she rounded the corner, two mugs in hand. "Hot tea," she said as she slid the mug into my hands. "It'll help, I promise." She set her mug on her nightstand and sat down next to me in her bed. "I'm sorry she— " but I cut her off.

"Please don't Storm. I don't want to talk about it. I just… I don't know. I just kind of want to lay here and avoid everything." Storm seemed to understand that there would be a time and a place to talk about this but that right now, was not it. She laid back against her pillow and lifted her arm so I could lay my head on her chest.

She had a steady heartbeat. Strong and rhythmic. I pulled my hand up and rested it over her abdomen since it didn't really sit comfortably anywhere else. "Thank you, Storm," I said softly.

"'Ro," she corrected me. Jean and Scott called her that and I suppose so did some of the people who knew her best.

"'Ro," I repeated.


End file.
